As always, March was dominated by Plant City’s annual attraction, the 87th Annual Florida Strawberry Festival. 2022’s installment saw massive crowds take over the winter strawberry capitol of the world throughout the 11-day event, with new foods, attractions and headline entertainment back at the Wish Farms SoundStage after the festival saw their headline acts cancelled in 2021. With classic favorites like the Oak Ridge Boys, the Bellamy Brothers, Lee Greenwood and Boys II Men joining more modern stars such as Sam Hunt, Cole Swindell and Plant City native Kenzie Wheeler, the festival was back in full force. And at the yearly Grand Parade, bands and businesses, cars, trucks, floats and walking participants flooded the lined streets of Plant City, led by Wheeler as the Grand Marshal.
As part of the festival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis made a stop by the festival grounds as he officially signed a bill into law that named strawberry shortcake the official dessert of Florida.
Following the festival, Stingray Chevrolet gave away a brand new Corvette to the winner of their annual raffle and announced a record-breaking $360,000 donation to Unity in the Community. And shortly after long-time city employee Jack Hollard transitioned to his new role as assistant city manager, Julie Garretson was named Plant City’s newest director of Parks & Recreation.
In sports, Durant, Strawberry Crest and Plant City baseball all kept rolling along with their winning seasons while the Plant City also made waves as former Buccaneers first round draft pick Michael Clayton was announced as the Raiders’ newest head football coach.
